Arriving in Philadelphia

Hey everyone (or anyone who wants to read about my summer). Sorry it has taken me so long to write about my experiences back in Pennsylvania. It has been a busy week and each day I have been putting off writing this post. I am sick today so it is a perfect time to write about the past 7-10 days.

I left home on Sunday, June 8th to fly out to Philadelphia. June 8th and 9th turned into the craziest travel day I've ever experienced. When my dad and I got to the airport, I was told that I wouldn't make it to Philadelphia. My first flight from Sacramento to Los Angeles was delayed so much that it made me miss my connecting flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. After changing all my flights, I eventually hopped on a commuter flight from Sac to San Francisco. It was my first time on one of the small commuter planes and that was an experience in itself. When I got to San Francisco I found that my new flight from SF to Philly was delayed until 12:30 AM. We boarded the plane and sat on the runway long enough for me to fall asleep. I woke up and we were in the air. Luckily, I slept most of this flight and landed in Philadelphia just after 8:30AM. First stop, Dunkin Doughnuts. By the time I got to the baggage claim, my bags were just coming out onto the carousel. Rewind back to Modesto on Sunday afternoon....It is 2:00 PM and I need to leave for the airport in 2 hours, not a single bag is packed. In my rush to the airport I forgot to look up directions from the Philly airport to Lancaster.

Fastforward....I've got my bags and I know that I need to take something called "SEPTA" to the central Philadelphia train station. I tried to hop on the first SEPTA bus that I saw but didn't have any cash. Strike 1. So I walked to two different terminals looking for an ATM and after about 30 minutes I had my cash and found the next SEPTA bus. I asked the bus driver if it was going to downtown Philadelphia and she said, "No, I think you need the next one." When the next bus showed up, I hopped on asked if it was the right bus and didn't get much of a response from the bus driver. Then, when I went to pay I asked the driver if he had change for a $10 and he laughed and said no. I replied with, "So you want me to pay $10 for this bus ride?" And he laughed and said "Yes." So I paid for 5 bus tickets on my first bus ride in PA. Cool. About 10 minutes into the ride I began to get a bad feeling in my stomach that I was on the wrong bus. I leaned over to someone near me and asked if I was on the wrong bus. Of course he said, ya you are going to complete opposite direction of the train station. I then proceeded to swallow my pride and walked up to talk to the friendly bus driver. He again laughed at me and told me to get off and walk across the street to another bus stop. I got off with my two large suitcases and backpack. My body is lacking sleep and common sense so I decided I needed to reevaluate my situation. So I interrupted my journey to the train station by walking into the Burger King next to where the bus dropped me off...

I proceeded to haul 2 suitcases and my backpack into the BK. I don't think I have ever felt so out of place. Everyone in BK was staring at me. I had a new strategy, get change for my $20 dollar bill so I didn't have to pay $20 for the next bus fare. I bought a coffee and some hash browns. Immediately after I bought the coffee I realized I couldn't carry it and my two suitcases. After a few sips and burning my tongue, I tossed the nasty coffee, hobbled out of BK with my luggage, and walked across a couple busy streets to the next bus station. To make sure I was at the right bus station I walked up to a lady and asked, "does this bus go to the main Philadelphia train station?" When she responded I realized she only had one tooth and couldn't talk too well. She kept trying to explain things to me but I didn't understand most of what she was saying. I hopped on the bus and asked the driver the same question, "will this bus get me to the train station?" He said, "Get off on 49th Street and take another bus to the 30th St Amtrak station." I then walked to the back of the bus, found a seat and blocked another seat with my suitcases. This bus packed out with people standing shoulder to shoulder in the aisles and I got a lot of dirty looks for taking up an extra seat. Once again, I have never felt so out of place or had so many people staring at me. There wasn't a bus stop map on the wall of the bus nor were there many street signs indicating where we were so I had no idea where the 49th Street stop was at. I stood up at one point and asked a lady who looked to me like she was a prostitute if this was the stop I needed and she surprised me. She said, "Follow me, I am going the same place you are going." She showed me the 49th St stop and where the next bus was to head to the train station. Once I was on that bus she told me how to go the rest of the way. After this lady left me, I couldn't stop thinking of the verse that says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." I felt pretty dumb for how I judged this lady who was sitting across the bus from me and she turned out to be the nicest person I'd met all day.

I got off this train and walked above ground to find the Amtrak station. My flight landed this morning at 8:30 AM and it took me two and half hours to get to the train station (it should take 20-30 minutes). Once I saw the station, a huge pressure was lifted off my back and I felt safe again. I walked into the station not caring if I had missed a train and knew that I finally knew where I was going. I got into the ticket line and found out that the next train to Lancaster was leaving in 10 minutes (they leave about every 2 hours) so I was right on time. I hopped on the train and met a guy who had been studying in Germany and talked with him for a while on the ride into Lancaster. When I got to Lancaster, I called Cameron another HOPE intern and she picked me up and took me to the Millersville International House where I will be living for the next few months. I got to the house around 1:00 PM, ate lunch at the house, unpacked a little, and fell asleep until dinner.