Reminiscing

I wanted to capture one of my life's more interesting stories before I forget about it.

Two years ago in March, I had an interview for Temple's Pharmacy School program. As the time came closer and closer, people started giving me advice about the area I was going to... Philly. I kept hearing that it was one of the most dangerous cities in the US and to make sure that I didn't accidentally drive down the wrong street, and that while Temple was a great school it was in a terrible neighborhood. Ok, so I was properly warned... even by people on the plane who were sitting next to me.

So after my plane lands at around midnight, I had to get a rental car to drive to E's friends house. I stayed with a couple that E knew from back in the day (jiu-jitsu? or high school? I can't remember). Anyways, I am driving to their house with the navigation system I rented (just to be sure I didn't turn down the wrong street) and it turns out that Philly isn't so bad at 1am. At least that was my perspective. I really wasn't scarred at all. I felt completely safe. And I found my destination relatively easy and before 2am, which was my goal so I didn't have to keep this poor couple up any longer. This couple, by the way, had the biggest dog I've ever seen in my life. I think it was a Newfoundland. It was huge.


Ok, so 2am to 6am was my sleep window. Not ideal for a big interview but whatever. The next morning I was extremely nervous. E's friend wasn't sure where the school of pharmacy building was so he searched for me on his laptop. I was thinking, "you go to Temple, shouldn't you know??" But he finds out how to get there and gives me a ticket for the subway and off I go. Off I go dressed in swank interview clothes riding a subway with people in, well lets just say less than swank interview clothes.

After I get off the subway and am making the trek to campus, I'm asking everyone around me where the school of pharmacy building is. NO ONE KNOWS. Ok now people, seriously, how do you go to a school and not know where the pharmacy/med/dental schools are. FInally, one student tells me that I'm on the WRONG campus and that the health sciences campus is 9 blocks north. Once I hear this information I start to have an out-of-this body experience. I don't know what to do, I have 15min to get to my interview (I was searching on campus for awhile trying to find my dang building) I want to give up, I want to panic. But this student, who see's that I'm about to break down, tells me to run and get a taxi and that I should be fine. So that's what I do. I run.

I hailed the first taxi of my life and he rushed me off to my destination. I paid him and then ran into my building and made my interview time by 3 minutes. Now that's a major PHEW!

This is the exact spot where I hailed my first cab

The interview was a group interview (weird, I know) but I rocked it and felt great after it. This one girl and I went to get a classic Philly cheese steak after our interview, to which we were both disapointed. It was not what it was cracked up to be. Maybe we hit up the wrong stand, but these were definitely below par.

Now it's time for me to get back, pack up and head to the airport to go home. I was in Philly for less time than I was in the air traveling to and from the city.

During one of my layovers in the Las Vegas airport, while I was waiting for my next flight, a young guy comes up to me and says, "hey I think you're cute, would you want to go out sometime?" This guy was actually really cute and dressed nice, so I took it as a compliment as he was not a creepy stalker dude. I proudly said that I was happily married and he went away saying, "dang, I'm usually pretty good at detecting these things." That put a smile on my face because I was exhausted.

Four plane rides, two subway trains, four hours of sleep, being hit on once, one bad Philly cheese steak sandwich, all for ONE interview for Temple's school of pharmacy program... to which I was ACCEPTED.