So Faith and I ended up making it out of Washington D.C. (with about one hundred other people hoping to leave the city) before the hurricane. We were herded into the platform and just told to get on the train. Seriously, train officials never even checked our tickets. Once we boarded and the train left the station without any welcome or information about the hurricane, we started to question our location. We asked nearby passengers if they were on the same track as us. We found out everything was normal... until it started raining INSIDE the train. Poor Faith kept getting soaked! There were buckets and buckets of rain coming in from the door, but Faith kept getting dripped on from up above. We had our luggage in an overhead compartment and decided to bring everything down to stay dry with us. Our train ride took about an hour and a half-- we arrived thirty minutes early to our stop. That train was trying to race the bad weather ahead!! We got off the train and immediately looked for a cab. We were helped by a man to load our cab... he was nice! He even offered to take us out on the town! We're fairly sure he was 50 years old. He kept trying to give us his number-- I wanted to humor him and tell him that it would be fun to go out with him just as we were getting in the cab. He told us to come back... we know where he'll be!! It was so funny. Then we headed to the hotel!
Faith and I made it to our hotel (after getting lost with the cab driver) around 6:00 P.M. last night. By now, it was pouring rain and we were soaked. We get up to the front desk and ask for our keys, but we were delayed because we had to sign waivers saying we wouldn't smoke in the room... or we would be fined $200.00. We quickly gave our initials and headed up to the 14th floor of the building. It felt SO good to set our stuff down and relax for 2.5 seconds. We turn on the T.V. to check the news and see what we could learn about Irene. We found the news station and heard the mayor saying that he has put Philadelphia into a State of Emergency-- right after this our T.V. lost signal to the real world. Maybe the hurricane was a lot worse than we thought it was! (Faith and I really weren't sure what was going on.) We both decided to take showers and jump into our pajamas. We were SUPER hungry and didn't have any type of food... so we went to the sixth floor vending machines where they had a large selection of oatmeal raisin cookies and spicy chips. We needed something real to eat. We went to the front desk and asked if there were any restaurants nearby. At this, we get handed three little brochures: one for Chinese, one for gourmet pizza, and one for Pizza Palace. Chinese was out of the picture... and gourmet pizza was too expensive. We were excited for our options! We chose a 16" Stromboli, Garlic bread, and Cheesecake for dessert. Faith gets on the phone and calls Pizza Palace. We thought that with the pending hurricane nothing would be open. When she called she first asked if they were open and still delivering. The man on the other line said they were open. Faith started cracking up and the guy said, "Don't laugh." We placed our order and waited for 20 minutes.
While waiting we get a phone call from a girl saying that she and one other girl had made it to Philly! Four out of fifty students actually made it to the city!! HOLY MOLY! We HAD to meet. It was decided that we would head up immediately after eating. There is a knock at the door and our food was here! We ate it... but it wasn't very good-- except for the garlic bread. Then it was decided we needed a drink! We went to the vending machine and bought two Sierra Mists... then the machine gives us a THIRD! It was so cool. We got three sodas (I am now saying soda because pop isn't cool here) for $4. I love my life.
With that exciting event we head upstairs to meet Ame and Kritika. We spend an hour with them and decided that Hurricane Irene was fake. After our hour we came back to the room, played on the internet, and then fell asleep. Yes, we fell asleep through Hurricane Irene. We woke up to a knock at the door at 9:30 A.M. Ame and Kritika wanted to go to breakfast! We head down, grabbed some grub, came back up to the room and ate. I went back to sleep... but Faith stayed awake and read a book. It was a wonderful way to be stuck in a hotel.
We did venture out later this afternoon! We went and got our first Philly Cheese Steak. Nothing else too exciting... I am fairly certain that the craziness of the Hurricane is done for us. We really didn't feel anything. It was windy, but that's about it. Updates will probably not be a frequent because I won't be couped up in a small room with my computer.
Summary: We are safe and ready to begin! Orientation was postponed, but people are now starting to trickle into the hotel. Our roommates for the week are here! Time to mingle!!
Side Story:
Faith and I are in the elevator on our way back to our room when all of a sudden, this seven year girl with a 'tude joins us. She was cute and she looked a little nervous.
I asked her, "Are you excited for the Hurricane?"
Her response, "It already happened."
(At this point, I have no idea if this is true or not)
Faith asks, "Oh, how was it?"
Her response, "It was awful!"
Maybe this isn't that funny, but she put her hand to her forward and was so dramatic about the whole event. It was cute. Nice little cherry on top of the rest of our day.
Thanks, Hurricane Irene!
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