Something New...TPC!

It’s been an exciting month since I last posted! 

Because I’m spending this semester studying off-campus in Philadelphia, I got an extra week at home (which was fantastic!), and then I got to start on my latest adventure.  You know… life itself really is an adventure!  You just have to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and really live, taking advantage of each new opportunity as it becomes available.  It’s awesome. 

Ok, I’m going to make a conscious effort to step away from my soapbox before I jump up there and make this post a very long rabbit trail about “life’s great adventure” or whatever.  Haha you’re welcome by the way ;)

So, for anybody who doesn’t know, I’m studying at The Philadelphia Center (TPC) this semester.  This program is absolutely FANTASTIC in that it focuses almost exclusively on experiential learning.  (Anyone who knows me knows that I love nothing more than experiencing new and exciting aspects of life—hence the soapbox a few paragraphs ago.)

I arrived at TPC on Saturday January 11 and had one “leisure” week in a hotel in Center City (downtown Philly).  In this week the other students and I literally got a crash course in how to establish yourself in a new city.  In that first week, we had a brief (and very experiential) orientation to the program.  This orientation consisted of walking around the city, learning the basics of navigating SEPTA (the public transportation system), and house hunting. 

Yes…you definitely read that correctly!  On our second day in the city, the fabulous faculty and staff at the Center gave us each a sheet of paper listing the houses and apartments that students had rented in the past, and other listings that were willing to do short term leases.  Obviously it’s easy to see why TPC has been described as real life with a safety net!  With this trusty list in hand, I and the other TPC students set out to tour this new city and find the place that we would call home for the next fifteen weeks.  In addition to finding a place to live, we also had to find roommates.  Luckily, I was blessed with two fantastic roommates whom I have very much enjoyed living with and getting to know! 

After several days of trecking around Philadelphia in rain, sunshine, and bitterly cold wind, my roommates and I had signed our lease and had rolled, carried, and pushed our luggage over from the hotel.  We moved into a fantastic little two-bedroom apartment in the “gayborhood.”  We’ve got two bathrooms, a kitchen, washer/dryer, and lots and LOTS of stairs leading up to our place!  It’s a great workout if nothing else :D

(I also got to experience first hand how satisfying it is to pull a large box on a dolly behind you as you walk through the downtown area of a major city.  I got a lot of inquisitive as well as incredulous looks… and here I thought people in the city would be more used to seeing people doing strange things!  I guess even city people see something new occasionally!  I was honored to give them that experience) ;) 

This wrapped up our very first, very full week in Philly!

Next up, in week two of the program, we started classes.  I have one class on Monday nights—Abnormal Psych, and one class on Wednesday morning—Urban, Political, and Social Problems.  As with everything else at TPC, the classes are as experiential as possible.  In my Abnormal Psych class, we do a lot of role-playing in addition to the readings.  It’s definitely a lot easier to remember details about various disorders when either you or your classmates have acted it out!  Likewise, in my Urban class, we take a lot of field trips to talk to people who are in the situations that we’re reading about. I really like this because if we’re going to be discussing poverty, why not walk outside and get the perspective of someone who is experiencing homelessness, or someone who has dedicated their life to assisting those in poverty?  It’s so much more enriching than merely reading a textbook and taking notes on a lecture.

Also in week two, we began our search for internships!  (At TPC, we take two four-credit classes throughout the semester, and work a 32 hour a week internship with some organization in our field.)  The first step in the process of finding our internship was spent with several days of pouring over many of the 800+ placement files that they have in TPC.  Each file is for a different company or organization that has either had a TPC intern in the past, or has expressed interest in having one in the future.  We each came up with a list of our top six choices, which the staff at TPC then took and started working their magic on.  They emailed and called each of these supervisors on our behalf.  This is yet another aspect of the safety net that is TPC.  Even though we personally had no credibility as potential interns, we had the good name of TPC and their students that had preceded us in these organizations.  As a result, potential supervisors were generally very willing to give us interviews! 

On a side note, there’s nothing cooler than walking into the Center everyday and seeing your new friends all decked out in their most professional ensembles and seeing how nervous/excited they are to go out and meet their potential future employers.  It’s inspiring, you know?  It reminds us that we’re all in the same position, and it built a sense of community very quickly!  I’ve known these people for just a few weeks, but because of all we’ve been through, I feel very close to many of them already.  I feel like I’ve known them for years :)

Currently, I have had four interviews, and I potentially have two more at the beginning of next week. I’ve interviewed at everything from a consulting firm, to a non-profit activist group working for economic rights of the homeless population.  I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of the most inspirational and motivated people in Philadelphia.  Honestly, I think the reason I haven’t locked in on an internship yet is because I want to keep meeting people and learning about how various organizations are operated!  But don’t worry (Mom) I’m making lots of good contacts, and have at least one offer, so I will work soon!  Don’t worry… :P

That pretty much brings me up to today.  It’s Saturday again, the beginning of my fourth week in Philly, and I’m sitting in a fantastic coffee shop down the street from my apartment, sipping an almond joy latte, and typing away on my laptop.  This is a happy place.  I feel very content.  If this is the way the semester starts, I’m so excited to see how it progresses over the next 12 weeks!  I feel so fortunate to be apart of this program.  I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to go back to campus life where each day is filled with classes and each night with homework and stolen moments for froyo runs with your besties.  I much prefer my “real world with a safety net.”  I love the freedom of a city, and the responsibility that comes from being a young professional in said city.  I feel like I’m expected to carry myself in a mature way here, as opposed to people constantly thinking that I need to loosen up at school.  I almost feel more myself here, and I like that :)

I’ll close for now and post again soon about how January went with submission in the Big Challenge.  Thanks for your support, your prayers, and your letters!  I really appreciate everything, and I look forward to sharing more of my adventures with you in the near future!

Much love from Philly,

Rebekah