SOLE TO SOUL

First Impressions

First impressions are everything?

You can decide whether you like someone or something in an instant, so when I first arrived in Philadelphia and made my way to Temple I didn’t like the place at all!

Driving down Broad Street with through the “hood” was not what I expected, and as my very lost Haitian cab driver drove further away from 30th street station, the more real my surroundings got. Temple University was somehow in the middle of this, literally around the corner from the block. You see, in all the information I had read and been told about Temple, somehow they forgot to mention that this great university of academic excellence was located in North Philadelphia which as people are now very eager to remind me is the worst area for crime in the whole of the US. I was shocked to say the least and while most of you will think “well it’s no different to some universities in London”, the main reason for me going to UEA was to get away from the inner city life, from cars and casualties and because of the constant sound of sirens I felt as if I was back there.

First impression of Philadelphia so far, not so good.

My disappointment continued as when I opened the door to my room I was greeted by a rather grim looking space with a huge concrete block in the middle of it. The whole set up of my room was rather bizarre and in all honesty I think the architect was pretty high when he or she designed this place as they have not utilized the space at all. The rooms at The Edge are all mind bogglingly weird and very basic to say the least. Concrete blocks, mesh drapes, no cooking space and a lack of light…. I really questioned why I was here.

Before I came here I had an image in my mind of what Temple would be like yet what I was presented with was the total opposite of what I had hoped for. It goes without saying that you put high expectations on things in your life and when you imagine something to be a certain way – you train your mind to think of all the  great things and you don’t factor in the things that are out of your control – the things that are beyond positive thinking.

The true test is how you react when stuff doesn’t go according to plan, when you are presented with the opposite of what you had initially hoped for. Do you either give up there and then or turn the situation round in your favour?

In other words, don’t let your first impression be your last impression.

Tomorrow will mark my second week in Philadelphia and I am so far away from those thoughts of disappointment and regret.

I believe there is still some time to go until I feel fully grounded but I do know in order to make that transition from tourist to resident I need to familiarise myself with the city of Philadelphia.

Philly is an extremely historical city and in my first couple of days out here I got to see that. One of the main reasons for having my first impressions changed was having my elder sister with me and she led me into the city with the determination to break the bad impression we had of the place so far.

So here’s a quick tour guide of all things Philly so far.

First stop:  IHOP –  no American city is complete without one.

Second stop: Historical sights – understand where you are and what happened here.

Third stop: Cool spots, the whole of South Street will be snapped up in due time.

Fourth stop: Sneaker shopping, the aim is to look and not buy…

I’m here for nine more months and there are so many moments ahead of me and right I’m excited to embrace them all.

I have to remember that not everything will be perfect and I have to open my mind to change and maybe lower my personal bar of expectation a bit.

I have to open my mind to the possibilities of all things new.

First impressions aren’t everything!

The city of Philadelphia just gained a new resident – let’s do this!