I can still hardly believe it, but believe it or not, it’s finally the last week of my first year at Drexel. And what a week to end on. This week also marks the start of both E3 and WWDC, both in CA, both greatly interesting to me. Will I have time to keep up with either? I have no idea. As this is my last week at Drexel, that also means it’s the last week to submit projects for classes, finals, and packing to move out of my dorm. That means next week marks the beginning of the last summer vacation I’ll have in life. After this summer, I’ll be at Drexel year-round. Do I mind knowing that? To be honest, not really. Since half of the year will be working in the field on co-op for me, frankly, I can’t wait.
Yes, that’s right. I’ve never actually had the opportunity to work in the IT field before. Heck, I’ve never really had a job, period. Do I regret that? Hell yeah I do. Not because it means I’ve never had a cash flow but because I’d say I’ve never really been exposed to the “real world”. Will I miss the freedoms of youth and summer breaks? Yes, I will but I’d much rather be doing something with my life than sitting around at my desk bored to death. There’s a reason I moved to go to college. As much as I hated living in NJ, that wasn’t the reason. The reason is I wanted to live somewhere I could explore.
While the size of Philly is nowhere near that of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, etc. (fun fact: I’ve been to all of those citied), it’s still a large enough city that you never know what you’ll find if you go for a walk. I like that. I can’t tell you how much I hated living in NJ following the same routine day in and day out. Living in Philly I believe has really given me the chance for the first time to actually go out and explore and most importantly, meet new people.
Drexel isn’t nearly as big as our neighbor Penn, but it’s big enough that you can honestly meet a new person every day if you want to. In high school and earlier, I’d always pass faces of people I knew in hallways. It’s not that I hated seeing them, but I like being able to walk to class, or anywhere in Philly for that matter, and see faces completely new to me. It really shows just how big the world really is.
For the longest time in my life in my life, I preferred to work alone. Let me tell you something, it sucks. Working with a team of people where you can get a wide variety of ideas is a lot more rewarding. Working with a team of people you never met before that class, even more so. A team with people from majors different than your own? Perhaps one of the best learning experiences you’ll ever have. One with people from all over the world? That’s the best kind. To an extent, that’s something I’ve done in the past by working at Zelda Reorchestrated and Gemakei. We aren’t as spread out as some of the teams I’ve worked with here at Drexel, but it’s still incredibly fun. I fully believe you can meet some amazing people on the internet and be a part of a really cool team. Getting the chance to actually meet them in person though is the best part. If you’re the kind of person who always works alone, I seriously recommend reconsidering. It may very well prove to be one of the best decisions you ever make.
So, am I looking forward to going home? A bit, yes. It’ll certainly be nice being able to take a break from the madness that Drexel can become. But it will also mean leaving a city that always has hidden gems waiting to be explored. I’d hardly call myself an expert on Philly. But you know what? I like that. It means there’s still an adventure waiting for me out there. I’d say if you’re looking to have an adventure, Philly may well be one of the best cities to do it in, at least in the US. I know fully well there are cities in other parts of the world that you could likely have a bigger one in, but I’m fine with Philly. I’ve learned a lot in this first year. But this year has only been the first step. There’s still four more years waiting. Knowing that is an amazing feeling.
