Whatsup, Philly?!? You've pleasantly surprised me since moving into your south-western hood last week.
Streets here are very narrow, and alternating one-ways, but in a north/south, east/west grid, so they're fairly managable. I can't help but continue to look both ways though, even when its obvious that traffic can only go one way on the cross street (do locals immediately recognize me as a tourist if they witness this?? ... or maybe just an idiot? ). My parents drove the 45minutes into the city to help me move in and later showed me their first apartment in the city together as well as their first date spot (a tiny restaurant that is still operating about 30 years later!). On the second night in Philly, Matt (new roomie) drove me out to his hometown in east New Jersey for a party where the host had built a full, working bar room out of snow in his front yard! There was a bar with shelves, walls with colored lights in them around the area, built in seating, tiki torches and even a firepit. If this wasn't enough, the host was a legit chef/restauranteur, so we were eating and drinking some pretty fancy stuff in our snow bar (appropriately named "The Abominable Snow Bar"). Even though this was almost 2 hours away in NJ, it was a great way to kick off the new diggs.
The new apartment is great though. There's plenty of room inside, there's a small backyard for a table/chairs, BBQ, and my heavy bag setup, as well as a flat roof outside my second story window that I can walk out on and, well... do whatever one does on a walkout roof. I've decided to keep my white walls fairly bare with only a few pictures and two poster-boards that I've continually been drawing on. The idea behind this is congruent with the purpose of the whole move- to strip away things that could potentially distract me from focusing on writing.
There will be plenty of 'distractions' in the surrounding city though! Philly has got a lot more style than I expected!! I've found a ton of funky shops, bars, murals, architecture, and fashion styles in walking around on exploration missions this past week. The immediate area I live in is acknowledged as a very hipster area, but it does seem that this feeling of predominantly artesian businesses expands even further. Another thing that I've enjoyed is the size of the city I've experienced so far. It seems very similar to Boston in the sense that I wouldn't be intimidated to walk to another corner of the city on a clear day, but the buildings aren't so tall that you feel overwhelmed (New York!). Actually, there's a few buildings in center city that remind me of the Boston skyline when I catch a glance, so that's been helping to soften the blow. One final thing I've noticed about the city layout is that there is an actual progression from the nice/affluent areas to the poorer sections. In Boston, sections of town like the South End and Charlestown, neighborhoods on opposite sides of the social spectrum could be divided by only one street!
I've found what seems to be a great church here, St. Patricks. I've got to Confession, daily mass, and Sunday mass here already and have enjoyed all. The only qualm I have is that all Sacrements have been in the lower chapel when it seems that there is a beautiful, stone, cathedral-style church above. I was hoping Sunday mass would be held here, but no. Hmm. I have seen a good amount of cute chicks here though, and it does seem like a 'neighborhood parish', so there's some potential.
I went for a run today (the first nice day in 2 months??), and ran down Market Street for a little while, reenacting part of the epic Rocky run. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the museum (the steps Rocky runs up) is on the opposite side of the city, so it could be a run for later when I'm in better shape. We had a SuperBowl party tonight, and Matt has a solid crew here, so its been good to interact with some heads. I don't know if they'll be my core crew here, but they all seem like good people. Sister Olga hooked me up with a bunch of Philly contacts in Catholic young adult groups, so I've been pretty setup in terms of social life. Again though, I'll be trying to keep it to a dull roar here. We shall see.
Overall... man, I'm pumped. I like this city a lot so far. It's taken about a week to get fully moved in, but now that that's all set, I'm really looking forward to getting this show on the road. I definitely feel like I've gained a bunch of momentum and energy in just the physical move, so I'm excited to harness and utilize that flow.
So far, so good.
...The Philly/Pennsylvania accent sucks, I will say that...
