I arrived in Philly on Sunday, September 17. Even though I was lucky enough to cope with my relatively large jet lag of 8 hours in Mexico City right before it, challenges have only begun. If you moved to another country at least once in your life, you definitely understand that it’s way less romantic and enjoyable in logistics terms then in narrative ones. Despite the fact that it was my second big move to another country, I was just as tired as I was the first time.
But there was no opportunity for tiny rest, folks. I had to start pushing straight from the next day. From that point of time my week was divided into 2 main parts: dealing with setting up my comfortable (survivable) lifestyle in new place and attending Drexel events.
To begin with first part, there were several differences compared to my lifestyle in Prague, the wonderful capital of Czech Republic. First and foremost, about essentials. The different configuration of sockets in the US in comparison with European ones is a well-known and unsurprising fact. And I, as an “advanced tourist”, was prepared for my 4-month journey with several socket adaptors. The part that I didn’t take into account was the voltage that appeared to be significantly lower here than back in Europe. So now I ended up with 2 hair dryers, which is very efficient in all senses (feel free to contact me in 3 month in case you need a hair dryer, I will need to get rid of it). Another notable change was tap water. Many European cities are famous for clean drinking tap water and Prague is not an exclusion from this rule. Thus, for last 2 years I got used to easy unlimited free access to tasty water in any tap. In Philly however it doesn’t work the same way even though they say that you may drink it. In my subjective opinion, you would be better off having workout sessions between nearby a grocery shop and your home with 10-liter gallons of water from time to time.
Let’s move to the second (more interesting) part: Drexel events. Again the culture of strong university life in the US is well-known for European fellas. And from my personal experience and from my friends’ who study in different institutions all over Europe I can confirm that we have some active campus life too. And here is time for rhetorical pause and a very big BUT. The number of huge events and no less huge effort that were present during welcome week here in Philly is on a whole different level compared to what I was used to back home. Beginning with The Franklin Institute aka a science museum in Downtown that was rented and transformed into entertainment zone/dance floor for Drexel students and ending with countless indoor/outdoor events with silent parties, workshops and an enormous amount of food in many locations around campuses. All of these are just blowing my mind. And when I experienced these absolutely free bonuses, I once and for all understood what is American university life. And it is definitely worth trying, that’s what I’m saying.
Thanks everyone who stayed turned till this line. I hope you got something from my small tale and have a wonderful week y’all!
